Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have a brief point in relation to Fr. McVerry's comments about the rent supplement and about it driving people into homelessness. My own experience is a bit different. I have found that where rents are going up and people have gone to the community welfare officer, flexibility is granted inside or outside the threshold protocol. That is generally the case. Representatives of the Department of Social Protection appeared before the committee the other day and indicated that there were about 8,000 cases in which they increased the granted amount beyond the caps. Fr. McVerry's experience is not universal.